Trevor, Edie, Alice, Lucas and I had dinner out tonight. Trevor wanted it to be this weekend we celebrated my birthday as next weekend will be Alice's First Birthday Party and he didn't want me to feel neglected. They even bought me a glass of champagne, not a good idea as I am one of those people who glow like a neon light but I did appreciate the thought and the effort they put into it. A good time was had by all, we all have different tastes in food and I was pleased Lucas now loves sushi as that is much better for him than the pizza which used to be his favourite.

Alice is so darned cute. She was amusing everyone at nearby tables with her baby peek-a-boo games.Several other diners came over to say goodnight to her. It seems she is one of the baby group fashionistas and was a big hit today at another first birthday party this afternoon to which she wore pink tights and a tu tu! I am glad Edie is sociable and takes her around to visit other Mums and Bubs on her days off. You need that company and support when you are a young Mum.

Where we went tonight was at one of our nicer buffet restuarants locally and the food there is delicious. It amazed me how good the children were, Alice all smiles and Lucas too. He told me this year at school is his best year ever! For a boy who was a problem child two years ago he has certainly changed. I was pleased tonight when he snuggled up beside me in the car and had a chat, being accepted by children is a special privilege.

I've also had a couple from our days long ago visit this week. John is Trev's godfather so was delighted to finally meet Miss Alice. It is good to see the happiness she is generating.They have always been part of our support group but have not had good health themselves the past couple of years so I was delighted when they decided to come for a visit. It is different hosting couples as a widow but it all worked out well. Happily we had a couple of fine sunny days so were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful sights of my part of the Central Coast. I do love having visitors. I suspect John missed having Ray to talk to as they were great mates.

It is raining now and that is predicted to last for three days so time to put up my feet and read, crochet, knit and finally assemble some of those bags of squares into rugs. I won't mind a couple of quiet days as life has been quite hectic of late. It is part of life that it speeds up for a while and then slows down as the seasons change. I think winter is finally here, the temps are lower at night and although the days are sunny there is still a chill in the air. We can't complain as we have had some glorious autumn weather and we do need the rain.

I have had a bit of a clean-up. It is time to pack up Ray's winter clothes and donate them to charity now. I hate to do it but there is no sense in hanging onto them when others could do with warm clothes for winter. I will probably keep a couple of things out of sentiment. Edie was telling me of a new charity that provides clothes for the homeless so maybe I will get in touch with them. It is not hard in adverse circumstances to find yourself homeless, there should be no stigma attached, we should just be grateful that life has somehow been kinder to us than it has to others who are less fortunate than ourselves.

I went to a meeting at church today about home visiting and other pastoral issues. The co-ordinator said she has my name down on a list of guest speakers so looks like I will be busy when I get back from my holiday. I guess I need to keep busy but I also need to make sure that my busyness is invested in something worthwhile.